Virgin Steele’s first two albums – 1982’s Virgin Steele I and 1983’s Guardians of the Flame, both revered as vinyl collectibles for years — finally see the light of day, although not without some tinkering from singer and keyboard player David DeFeis. But thanks to DeFeis and original guitarist Jack Starr (apparently) setting aside their differences, fans can now hear the origins of this New York metal band that, given the state of American metal during the past two decades, has remained more popular abroad than it has in its homeland. Edguy's Tobias Sammet even jokingly refers to as DeFeis "half-European."
Heavily influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Virgin Steele kicked American metal in the ass back in the early-Eighties. Of these two discs, Guardians of the Flame is more solid and aggressive, with better-developed songs and less filler that hint at the epic and symphonic direction in which Virgin Steele would eventually head. Songs like "The Redeemer" and the title track will make you wish you’d heard them years ago. On the rather generic debut, the instrumental "Pulverizer" and the ballad "Still In Love With You" stand out as holding the most promise.
All of these tracks have been remastered, and some of them have been re-recorded with Virgin Steele’s current lineup. In a few cases ("American Girl" and "Living in Sin" from Virgin Steele I), DeFeis opted to include both the remastered and re-recorded versions. These discs offer an aural glimpse at how this band sounded before The Marriage of Heaven and Hell albums. Plus, there’s more screaming here than in some horror films.
Bonus material includes previously unreleased four-track demos, songs from the elusive Wait For the Night EP, a piano composition DeFeis recorded when he was 17 years old, and a classic radio interview with the band circa 1983. Taken as a whole, Virgin Steele I and Guardians of the Flame make for a hefty slab of American metal history and deserve a spot in the collections of serious metalheads. Three stars for the debut; four stars for Guardians of the Flame.
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